Abstract

Fabrication of a highly sensitive and selective sensing element based on Curcuminthe natural pigment of Curcumaforoptical determination of toxic mercury(II) in aqueous solutions

Author(s): Abdollah Yari, Hamzeh Adelpour

In this paper, we are reporting the application of Curcumin, a natural diketon and an anticancer compound, to develop and construct a novel optical sensor that is highly selective to Hg2+ ion in aqueous solution. The sensing element, incorporated into a plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) membrane, is capable of determining mercury(II) over a wide dynamic range from 4.07× 10–8 to 3.47× 10–1Mat pH5.0with a lower detection limit of1.01 × 10–8M. The optode membraneÂÂ’s response to Hg2+was fully reversible and revealed a very good selectivity towards Hg2+ ion over a wide variety of other metal ions in solution at a response-time less than two min. The results of experimental measurements by the proposed optical sensor were significantly suitable for applications in direct determination of mercury(II) in environmental real samples and satisfactorily was comparable with the data from cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrometry.